The World Health Organization defines cancer as the second leading cause of death around the world. More than 9.6 million people have died because of cancer. The most common types of cancer include prostate, lung, stomach, colorectal, and liver cancer. Despite all the efforts of health care providers and researchers worldwide, cancer remains evasive since there is still no known cure for this disease.
However, modern research and technology have paved the way for enhanced methods of managing the symptoms of cancer and controlling it. In the United States, about 5.5 percent of the total population has cancer. A lot of people have been disappointed over the fact that there is still no cure for cancer. However, many people were able to recover because of improved methods of fighting the symptoms of the disease. On the other hand, many cancer patients have also suffered from recurrence, which is why a lot of people are hoping for more improvements in cancer research to help save more people with cancer.
The burden brought by cancer on people worldwide has exerted tremendous financial, physical, and emotional strain on people who have the disease and on their families. Even health care systems are already affected because they are at a loss on how they will deal with cancer. Therefore, scientists and researchers focused on studying cancer, its symptoms, and possible ways of managing the disease are doing their best to help more patients with cancer. At present, the progress of cancer research is promising. However, there is still a long way to go to finally come up with the ultimate cure.
Using cell-based assays is one method that scientists and researchers use to study the functional activity of cancer cells in the human body. However, even this method needs to be refined because more progress is needed to address the problems related to cancer. Highlighted below are new technologies that show a lot of promise when making changes in cancer treatment. Read on to learn more about these new technologies.
Personalized Vaccines for Cancer
When healthy cells become mutated and turn into tumor cells, cancer is developed. When new therapies are discovered, mutations are always the focus. However, scientists and researchers know that therapies can be very different for different kinds of tumors. Mutations are known to be random for every type of tumor that develops. Therefore, comparing one patient’s tumor with another will never yield an exact match.
As a result, researchers and scientists have come up with the idea of creating personalized vaccines. Personalized vaccines have become more effective because these personalized vaccines target every unique tumor more efficiently. Patients now have opportunities to receive tailor-made products that will help them deal with the challenges brought by cancer.
Helping Immune Cells in the Body
2018 was the first time when cancer cell therapy was first approved. This kind of therapy is known as CAR-T cell therapy. This therapy involves taking T-cells that are immune to cancer from patients so that they can be genetically engineered to target specific antigens of cancer. By creating treatments targeted to specific cancer cells, there are more chances of paving the way towards the establishment of precise treatments that will eradicate the disease. Therefore, healthy tissues in the body will be spared. This will pave the way towards improving the lives of patients.
More Precise Cancer Technology
At present, some methods help make gene editing more precise, so it has become faster to modify people’s DNA sequences. If more research will be conducted on this kind of technique, there is a big possibility that it can be applied to endeavors that aim to cure cancer. Even though this kind of precise technology is still in its early stages, it already shows a lot of promise for cancer patients. If this technology will be enhanced or refined in the future, there is a big possibility that all the concerns related to cancer will be successfully addressed. Saving the lives of cancer patients will then become easier because of enhanced and more precise cancer technology.
The Fight Against Cancer
A lot of cancer patients are struggling in terms of fighting the disease. Even if there is no definite cure for cancer yet, many treatments have successfully helped cancer patients manage their symptoms until they have reached the remission stage. With the promises of evolving technology, cancer research is gradually improving as each day passes. Therefore, there is hope in winning the battle against cancer.
